Method for consigning ordered commodities

ABSTRACT

To dispatch ordered articles order data is transferred from a customer to a supplier of the articles. A dispatch center of a common dispatch service is notified of the earliest possible outward delivery time for each supplier. This information is saved in a database at the dispatch service. The latest of the earliest possible arrival times of the articles at the dispatch center is determined, wherein each arrival time is calculated by adding the respective transport time to the earliest possible outward delivery time. The dispatch service notifies each supplier of the outward delivery time to be achieved, which is obtained from the latest of the earliest possible arrival times at the dispatch center minus the respective transport time from the supplier to the dispatch center. The suppliers send out the ordered articles to the dispatch center at the notified times, and the articles are forwarded together to the customer.

The invention concerns a method for the dispatch of ordered articles, inwhich different articles are ordered from a mail-order firm or onlinesupplier, and in which the order data and customer details, such as nameand address, are saved in a database.

If a customer orders different goods from one or more online suppliers,then at present he receives consignments from eachmanufacturer/supplier, i.e. he must be present to receive the goods onmore than one occasion, and the transport costs are relatively high.

If appropriate goods are ordered from a conventional mail-order firm,then unless they are sent out directly from the manufacturers to thecustomer, they are stored temporarily in a large warehouse. Either thegoods are held in this warehouse temporarily in the quantities andproduct range required in order to enable goods to be taken directlyfrom there when orders are received, or goods for new orders are heldthere temporarily until all articles are present. The goods are thensent in a joint shipment to the customer. The latter temporary storageoption does require less warehousing space, but this can varysignificantly from day to day, so that extra capacity must be kept inreserve. In addition, the full infrastructure also needs to be in placefor this option.

The object of the invention stated in claim 1 is therefore to create amethod for the dispatch of different articles that have been ordered, inwhich the necessary temporary storage capacities are reduced comparedwith the prior art when a joint delivery is required.

The invention is based on the idea of coordinating the outward deliverytimes from the manufacturers/suppliers, and at the same time includingthe transport from the respective manufacturer/supplier to the dispatchservice as a form of quasi-storage, such that a larger temporarywarehouse is no longer needed in order to provide the customer with theordered articles in a single delivery.

This is achieved by a common dispatch service being notified of theearliest possible outward delivery times for each of themanufacturers/suppliers, this information being saved there in adatabase together with the order data and customer details, such asname, address. Then the latest arrival time of articles at the dispatchcenter of the dispatch service is determined for this order, which iscalculated by adding the respective transport times onto the associatedearliest possible delivery times from the manufacturers/suppliers. Theearliest possible delivery time to the customer is then calculated byadding the transport time from the dispatch center to the customer ontothe latest arrival time at the dispatch center, and then adding ontothis a handling time at the dispatch service.

After that, each manufacturer/supplier for the order concerned isnotified by the dispatch service of the outward delivery time to beachieved. This is obtained from the latest arrival time at the dispatchcenter minus the respective transport time from themanufacturer/supplier to the dispatch center. Finally, the orderedarticles are sent out to the dispatch service at the notified times, andthen forwarded jointly from the dispatch center to the customer.

Advantageous embodiments of the invention are presented in thesub-claims.

In order to avoid the customer being absent when the articles aredelivered, it is advantageous to agree the delivery date with him. Tothis end, the earliest possible delivery time to the customer isdetermined by adding the transport time between the dispatch center andthe customer onto the latest arrival time and then adding onto this ahandling time at the dispatch center. Then at least one delivery time isproposed to the customer. Once the confirmed delivery time has beenreceived from the customer, the outward delivery times to be achieved bythe manufacturers/suppliers are postponed, on the basis of the earliestpossible delivery time to the customer, by the time difference betweenthe confirmed and the earliest possible delivery time.

In an advantageous embodiment, the dispatch service is notified of thetransport times between the manufacturers/suppliers and the dispatchcenter, together with the earliest possible outward delivery times, andthe information saved in the database.

In a further advantageous embodiment for determining the currenttransport times between manufacturers/suppliers and dispatch center,these times are calculated, saved and statistically analyzed on acontinuous basis.

It is advantageous for the customer if he is directed to severalsub-online suppliers via just one online supplier, which co-ordinatesthe dispatch at the same time.

In order to avoid excessive delivery delays, the earliest outwarddelivery times of the articles from the manufacturers/suppliers areadvantageously compared with each other. Where a set time difference isexceeded, the articles are not delivered together to the customer.

In a further advantageous embodiment, the sizes and characteristics ofthe articles are also saved in the database at the dispatch service, andcan be used if required to check whether the articles can be sent in oneparcel. If several manufacturers/suppliers are available for a specificarticle, then it is advantageous to select these on the basis of theshortest possible transport distances to the customer and/or theearliest possible outward delivery times.

It is also advantageous if the customer can select the dispatch service.

The invention is explained in more detail below in a practical examplewith reference to the drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the order process

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the determination of the agreed deliverydate to the customer

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of the information flow during the deliveryprocess

As shown in FIG. 1, the customer 1 places an order over the Internetwith an online supplier 2 for shoes, books and music CDs on Mar. 12,2000. The online supplier forwards this order to relevantmanufacturers/suppliers 5. In addition, the customer 1 has chosen toreceive the articles in a joint delivery. The dashed arrow indicatesthat the customer 1 can also order the goods directly from themanufacturers/suppliers 5, in this case over the Internet, as suggestedby the names shoes.com, books.com and music.com. Themanufacturers/suppliers 5 then determine their earliest possibledelivery date and pass this information on to the dispatch center 3 ofthe online supplier 2 or of the selected dispatch service, where thedata is saved in a database 4 together with the order data and customerdetails, such as name and address.

The transport times from the manufacturers/suppliers 5 to the dispatchcenter 3 are also saved with this data. The transport times may benotified by the manufacturers/suppliers 5, as shown, or this informationis already saved in the database 4. The continuous arrow indicates thatthe dispatch service or dispatch center 3 belongs to the mail-orderfirm/online supplier 2, and receives the, information via there, whilethe dashed arrow indicates that the dispatch service is independent andobtains the information directly from the manufacturers/suppliers 5. Thelatest of the earliest possible arrival times at the dispatch enter 3 ofthe dispatch service (Jul. 12, 2000) is determined from the earliestpossible delivery dates plus the respective transport times to thedispatch center 3 (shoes.com: Apr. 12, 2000 plus 1 day; books.com: May12, 2000 plus 1 day; music.com: Apr. 12, 2000 plus 3 days). If one thenadds the transport time to the customer 1 (1day) and a handling time (0days in this case) at the dispatch service, then one obtains theearliest delivery time to the customer 1 (Aug. 12, 2000). It isadvantageous to agree this date with the customer 1, so that he canactually receive the consignment. If this is done, then the jointarrival date of the ordered articles at the dispatch center 3 (Jul. 12,2000) is determined by starting with the agreed date (the proposed dateof Aug. 12, 2000 was confirmed) and subtracting the handling time andthe transport time between customer 1 and dispatch center 3. As shown inFIG. 3, the respective transport times to the manufacturers/suppliers 5are then deducted in order to determine the adjusted outward deliverytimes (Shoes.com: Jun. 12, 2000; books.com: Jun. 12, 2000; music.com:Apr. 12, 2000) that will guarantee arrival at the dispatch center 3 onthe same date. The manufacturers/suppliers 5 are then notified of theseoutward delivery times, so that when these outward delivery times areachieved, temporary storage is no longer required to complete theconsignment for the customer. The dashed arrow indicates that the datacan also be transferred separately to independentmanufacturers/suppliers. It is convenient if a single online supplier 2linked to further online suppliers/manufacturers 5 co-ordinates thedispatch. In order to avoid delivery times to the customer that are toolate, the earliest possible outward delivery times for themanufacturers/suppliers 5 are compared. Where a set time difference isexceeded, the articles are not sent jointly to the customer. Ifcharacteristics and dimensions of the articles are also recorded in thedatabase 4, then if required one can find out whether the orderedarticles can be sent in one parcel. Where there is a choice of severalmanufacturers/suppliers 5, they are selected on the basis of theshortest possible transport distances.

1. A method for the dispatch of ordered articles, comprising: orderingof different articles from a mail-order firm or one or more onlinesuppliers by a customer; storing relevant order data and customerdetails including name and address in a database of a dispatch center ofa dispatch service, wherein the dispatch service is configured tocoordinate outward delivery times from the manufacturers/suppliers toachieve delivery of the different articles to the customer in oneshipment; transferring or forwarding the order data from the customer inquestion to the relevant manufacturers/suppliers of the requestedarticles; notifying the dispatch center of the dispatch service of theearliest possible outward delivery time t_(OutM) for each of themanufacturers/suppliers, and storing the earliest possible outwarddelivery time t_(OutM) under the respective article number in thedatabase at the dispatch service; determining the latest of the earliestpossible arrival times of the articles at the dispatch center t_(ArrD),each arrival time being calculated by adding the respective transporttime t_(TransMD) to the earliest possible outward delivery timet_(OutM); the dispatch service notifying each manufacturer/supplier forthe order concerned of the outward delivery time to be achieved, whichis obtained from the latest of the earliest possible arrival times atthe dispatch center t_(ArrD) minus the respective transport time fromthe manufacturer/supplier to the dispatch center; determining anearliest possible delivery time t_(DelC) to the customer by adding thetransport time between dispatch center and customer t_(TransDC) onto thelatest arrival time t_(ArrD), and then adding a handling time at thedispatch service; the manufacturers/suppliers sending out the orderedarticles to the dispatch center at the notified times; and forwardingthe different articles in one shipment to the customer so that thecustomer receives the shipment at the determined earliest possibledelivery time t_(DelC).
 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising: the dispatch service notifying the customer of at least oneproposal Pt_(DelC)≧t_(DelC) for the delivery time, for confirmation; thecustomer notifying the dispatch service of the confinned delivery timeC_(tDelc); and postponing the outward delivery times to be achieved bythe manufacturers/suppliers on the basis of the earliest possibledelivery time to the customer, by the time difference between theconfirmed and the earliest possible delivery time.
 3. The method asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the dispatch service is notified of thetransport times t_(TransMD) between the manufacturers/suppliers and thedispatch center, together with the earliest possible outward deliverytimes t_(OutM), and the information saved in the database.
 4. The methodas claimed in claim 1, wherein in order to determine the currenttransport times t_(TransMD) between manufacturer/supplier and dispatchcenter, these times are calculated, saved and statistically analyzed ona continuous basis.
 5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein asingle online supplier, which co-ordinates the dispatch, leads toseveral sub-online suppliers.
 6. The method as claimed in claim 1,wherein the earliest outward delivery times of the articles from themanufacturers/suppliers are compared with each other, and where a settime difference between the earliest outward delivery times is exceededthe articles are not sent jointly to the customer.
 7. The method asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the size of the articles and theircharacteristics are also saved in the database, if required thisinformation is checked in order to ascertain whether these articles canbe sent in one parcel, and they are dispatched in one parcel if apositive result is obtained from the check.
 8. The method as claimed inclaim 1, wherein where there are several possiblemanufacturers/suppliers for a specific article a selection is made onthe basis of the shortest possible transport distances to the customerand/or the earliest possible outward delivery times.
 9. The method asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the customer selects the dispatch service.